This is not your ordinary high school shop class.
Inside the vast Hangar 1 at Clow International Airport, students huddle around instructor Dan Christine as they put the finishing touches on the fuselage of a large model German World War I, Fokker E III airplane.
The 20-member class, consisting primarily of aviation club members from Richards High School in Oak Lawn, last month started building the aircraft that is nearly a life-size model of the original, but made with different materials and techniques. Christine assures his students the plane will fly on completion.
The class is the first of its kind offered at the new Illinois Aviation Museum at Clow. Sponsors paid for materials.
“The whole focus is education for kids,” said Kent Demuth, executive director of the museum, where two aircraft are on display.
Students are constructing the monoplane from plans and using power tools to cut piping instead of wood for the fuselage.
“We want to teach science and technology in the aviation field,” Christine said, adding that students learn aircraft physics, aircraft structure and the FAA flight-approval process.
Parent Brian Dennis of Oak Lawn watched his son, Brian, participate. He praised the instructor’s ability to engage the students in the mechanics involved in the project.
“I tried to get my son interested [in mechanics], it never went anywhere,” he said.
For the students, the experience is unique.
“I thought [the class] was pretty cool,” said 15-year-old Erin Moeller of Oak Lawn, whose grandfathers built military planes. Two of her uncles build commercial craft.
Kyle Schemehaur, 17, a student at Downers Grove South, said he was thrilled to get involved in the program.
“I am really interested in aviation,” said Schemehaur, who is training for his pilot’s license at Clow. “I have aspirations to build my own plane eventually.”
The class will end whenever the project is finished.
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Instructor Christine O’Reilly, who oversees the Richards club, said several students are already on a waiting list to get into a second class.
“The day it flies will be the most rewarding,” Schemehaur said.